Read a full match report of the Premier League game between Arsenal and
Cardiff City at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday Jan 1, 2014.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer knows only too well how vital the role of the super-sub can be in a club’s title bid.

Former striker Solskjaer remains one of football’s most famous substitutes after winning countless games late on for Manchester United.

Given the fact he was in the Emirates stands as part of Cardiff City’s offer to make him the Welsh club’s new manager, Solskjaer will not have been particularly pleased with the impact of Arsenal substitute Nicklas Bendtner.

But Solskjaer will have related to a forward stepping off the bench to net a late goal that felt like an important moment in this season’s title race.

The United teams Solskjaer played for would have been proud of the way Arsenal kept going in their dogged pursuit of three points.

Bendtner’s opener arrived in the 88th minute and Theo Walcott netted an added-time second that gave the scoreline a deceivingly comfortable look.

Danish striker Bendtner was booed off the pitch by Arsenal fans during the Capital One Cup defeat to Chelsea on Oct 29.

But his New Year’s Day goal sparked chants of “Super Nick” from the Emirates crowd, who then gave Bendtner a standing ovation as he hobbled off.

Bendtner could now miss the next two weeks with a sprained ankle and can start talking to foreign clubs, with his contract due to expire at the end of the season.

But whatever the immediate and long-term future holds for Bendtner, his contribution against Cardiff will be remembered as being pivotal if Arsenal end their trophy drought.

“I never give up on people because you always have to give them credit,” said Wenger. “I know the expression of the fans is only the photo of the day. They are always ready to change their mind if you put the effort and performance in.

“It is January, so I can’t stop Nicklas talking to overseas clubs, but he says he wants to stay here. If he is focused on staying with us and doing his job, he is a great striker.

“I told him already that he is back to the level I want him to be at and if he continues to develop like that, he will come back into the team.

“Unfortunately, he got injured today and it looks like it is not a question of days, but weeks with a sprained ankle.

"I am sad for us, but for him as well.” Asked what Bendtner’s injury means for his January transfer plans, Wenger replied: “I don’t know. We don’t go straight from Nicklas’ ankle straight to the transfer market.

"At the moment, it means we have Olivier Giroud and Bendtner out.”

Arsenal chalked up 82 points over the course of the 2013 calendar year. If they can keep that kind of form up for five more months, then Wenger’s team should be crowned champions.

There was a bloody-mindedness about this victory. Arsenal were missing key players, struggled to find their rhythm and were wayward in their shooting.

But they simply refused to settle for anything less than three points.

It would have been easy for the Gunners to accept it was not going to be their day, when Per Mertesacker missed two golden chances in the space of a couple of second-half minutes.

First Mertesacker headed a Walcott cross wide from six yards and then grazed the outside of the post from a Walcott corner.

Captain Steven Caulker was superb for Cardiff and headed off the line late on from Bacary Sagna, but the right-back was involved in the move that led to Bendtner’s opener.

Nacho Monreal crossed from the left, Sagna forced a brilliant save from Cardiff keeper David Marshall and Bendtner reacted quickest to smash the ball into the net.

Bendtner had replaced Lukas Podolski in the 64th minute and was forced back off with the ankle injury he suffered while scoring. Walcott lifted the ball over Marshall for Arsenal’s second goal.

“We had a slow start, like can happen sometimes when you play so many games and it was important for us they didn’t score the first goal and to find some pace in the second half,” said Wenger.

“That is what we did and it looked like the goal was coming in the last 25 minutes. But sometimes it doesn’t and you get caught on the counter-attack, so we needed resilience and intelligence. In the end, Nicklas got us great relief.”

Solskjaer would have admired Cardiff’s effort, as Wenger hailed the Welsh team the fittest in the Premier League. The performances of Caulker, Marshall and Jordon Mutch were more cause for optimism.

If indeed it was David Kerslake’s last game as Cardiff caretaker manager, he bowed out with plenty of pride.

“The last thing I said to the players was that they made me feel immensely proud of the performance we put in,” said Kerslake.

“I don’t know what the future holds for me. I am contracted to the club until the owner or chairman tell me different.”

Bendtner may have been Arsenal’s super-sub on the day, but Cardiff will now rely on Solskjaer making a similarly important impact.